Guide to DMCA "exemption" process -- 3 weeks left

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Seth Finkelstein <sethf () sethf com>
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 11:30:43 -0500
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Guide to DMCA "exemption" process -- 3 weeks left

----- Forwarded message from Lee Tien <tien () well com> -----

 Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 08:07:11 -0800
 From: Lee Tien <tien () well com>
 Subject: guide to DMCA "exemption" process -- 3 weeks left
 To: CYBERIA-L () LISTSERV AOL COM

EFF is pleased to present a guide to the DMCA "exemption" process.

http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/finkelstein_on_dmca.html

Under this process, the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress
must make a triennial inquiry regarding adverse effects of the DMCA's
prohibition on circumvention on "certain classes of works."

If adverse effects are shown, the office can "exempt certain classes
of works from the prohibition against circumvention of technological
measures that control access to copyrighted works."  The exemptions
only last 3 years.

The author, Seth Finkelstein, is one of the very few people who
succeeded in arguing for an exemption (for the act of circumventing
access/copy controls on censorware blacklists) in the last round
(2000).  [The Copyright Office received many comments and rejected
the overwhelming majority of them; I think in the end only 2 or 3
exemptions were created.]

The upcoming round is the next one, for 2003.  "Written comments are
due by December 18, 2002."

This is about the only part of the DMCA that can mitigate its fell
sway, so if you have any interest in the topic at all, it's well
worth reading.

Lee
-- 
**********************************
Lee Tien
Senior Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
454 Shotwell Street
San Francisco, CA  94110
(415) 436-9333 x 102 (tel)
(415) 436-9993 (fax)
tien () eff org 


----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
Seth Finkelstein  Consulting Programmer  sethf () sethf com  http://sethf.com
Anticensorware Investigations - http://sethf.com/anticensorware/
Seth Finkelstein's Infothought blog - http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/19/technology/circuits/19HACK.html


------ End of Forwarded Message

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